Hello, 

Here is a reading test. For each gap, choose the correct option (a, b or c). 

                                                              William Perkin

William Perkin was born in London in 1838. As a child he had many hobbies, including model
making and photography. But it was the (19) ………… of chemistry that really interested him. At
the age of 15, he went to college to study it.
While he was there, he was (20) ………… to make a medicine from coal. This didn’t go well, but
when he was working on the problem, he found a cheap (21) ………… to make the colour purple.
At that (22) ………… it was very expensive to make clothes in different colours. William knew he
could make a business out of his new colour. Helped by his father and brother, William
(23) ………… his own factory to make the colour. It sold well, and soon purple clothes
(24) ………… very popular in England and the rest of the world.

19 A class B subject C course

20 A thinking B trying C deciding

21 A way B path C plan

22 A day B time C hour

23 A brought B turned C opened

24 A began B arrived C became

Answer key: 19 > subject – 20 > trying – 21 > way – 22 > time – 23 > opened – 24 > became